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Daisy Mae’s Alien Buffet iPhone Review

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Overview:
Aliens are have crash landed in the middle of the desert and are assaulting your diner! Grab your short shorts and Tommy guns and give them an all you can eat buffet of lead!

Story:
There is no actual story to speak of written anywhere. All that is given is a premise, though much can be inferred from the premise and the area. There has been a crash in the desert near the diner, and it is no ordinary crashed plane, but an alien space ship. Now there are hordes of aliens that are attacking Daisy and you must fend them off with any means disposable.

Graphics:
There is nothing amazing about the graphics for this game when compared to other consoles. However this is a 3D game and is played from a top down perspective and for the Iphone the graphics are quite amazing with well designed aliens and a well designed environment.

The main character, Daisy Mae, is designed interestingly enough with her original clothing, and is given a selection of unlockable outfits to wear after enough playtimes. Her character looks great with only some minor polygons being out of place, while the rest of the game is quite smooth looking.

There is a large variety of aliens to be afraid of and each is designed quite uniquely with nothing copied between them. There are two small creatures that travel quickly, but are only harmless if they touch you, and then there is a humongous blob like alien that can destroy you as long as it can get close to you.

There is only one level in itself, but the level is gigantic and you can traverse anywhere along the map, except not inside buildings which could have provided a bit of interesting gameplay from fighting inside a building instead of always outside. There are many various environmental obstacles that you can use to your benefit to help funnel the aliens in a smaller path so that they can not easily surround you which provides a bit of strategy.

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Gameplay:
As you start the game, you are given the choice between three modes to control Daisy. One such mode is automatic shoot where you only use one joystick to move around and Daisy shoots at anything that moves near you. The other two modes require the use of both hands to control. Button Shoot involves the use of movement with the left stick, and a button that shoots bullets when pressed. And finally there is a third option given called Dual-Stick, involving he use of one stick to move, and the other stick to aim the guns and where they shoot.

Then the game provides a medley of different weapons to put down the aliens that are attacking you. You start with your basic dual Tommy Guns, however there are many more to acquire. These are acquired by killing the aliens and occasionally, one will drop a weapon upgrade. These weapons include everything from a ninja-star launcher, a rocket launcher, to a ray gun.

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Not only is there the usual weaponry to bring down the pain, there is also a womanly side to Daisy Mae. As the bodies pile up Daisy Mae’s taunt gauge fills up. The taunt is a devastating move that can clear the area all around you with one push of the button. The further the gauge fills up the higher the range of the attack, with a full gauge the entire screen can be wiped of enemies.

Not only this but the health bar is shown as 3 kiss imprints in the top corner. As you get hit by the aliens you will lose one kiss and can only take three hits before it is Game Over. Though your health can be refilled by picking up lipstick that is dropped from the aliens much like the gun upgrades are.

The only complaint that I have about gameplay is that it suffers from stagnancy because there is only one level. If there was a variety of levels provided then the game would have much more replay value and allow the player to see possibly even more of the great level design.

Overall:
This game is quite enjoyable and even though there is only one level to play on and no story to speak of, the gameplay speaks for itself. The variety of enemies and the weapons that you can use against them are quite wonderful.

Overall I give Daisy Mae’s Alien Buffet 7-0-capsules-out-of-10

Xbox Live Offers to the Wrong People

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Recently every Sunday Night (United States) and Monday Afternoon (Australia) I have posted a unique article that you will only ever be able to read if you visit this site. (Or if you are my teacher).

Today I was going to share my hypothesis I wrote for my psychology class entitled ‘Stress in Relation to Gamers: The Proper Application of Games to Reduce Stress’. My psychology teacher hasn’t returned it to me and since it is kind of long I’ll have to reduce a majority of it. So if I get it back next week you guys will be able to read (or skim through) the abridged version next Sunday.

Since I couldn’t do the above paper, I have been thinking what else I could do. That is when my younger brother turned on my Xbox and loaded his profile. On his dashboard was an offer for 12 months of Xbox Live plus bonuses and the idea struck me. Below you can read my opinions on the matter.

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Xbox Live Offers to the Wrong People

There are many offers floating around Xbox Live. Most of the offers are displayed on the Xbox Dashboard. There is only one problems with the offers, they are displayed to the wrong people. From the eyes of the marketer the right people are seeing the offers, but from the eyes of a consumer these offers are shown to the wrong people at the wrong time.

When someone doesn’t have Xbox Live for a while, the dashboard will begin to show special offers to renew your Xbox Live membership. According to the marketer, this moment is the perfect time to show them because they will want to purchase a new subscription. If they throw in some offers they will have a greater chance of getting you to buy it.

There are a few major problems with this. My main example is with my younger brother. He can only ever afford 3 months at a time, and consistently gets these offers. Today he was given the offer: “Buy 12 months of Xbox Live, get 2 extra months free and a riot shield prop for your avatar.” Even if he wanted Xbox Live again, he can’t afford to buy 12 months all at once, he would miss out on the offer because he can only afford 3. On the other hand, if they were to show me that offer right as my subscription was about to run out, I would’ve picked it up instantly. Not for the Riot Shield (Nothing beats my Chocobo) but for the extra 2 months.

As you can see the major problem is that these offers don’t pop up until you haven’t had Xbox Live for a while. The reason this is done is for more money, but if you look at it correctly they are showing these offers to the wrong people.

Most of us buy a new 12 month subscription every time it runs out. We rarely ever get to see these offers because according to Microsoft, we are going to pay no matter what. So Microsoft instead shows the offers to the people who don’t have Xbox Live, but honestly if you don’t have Xbox Live there is a reason. You either can’t afford it, or you simply don’t want it.

My preposition is that Microsoft should show these offers to people 2 months before their Xbox Live runs out. Xbox Live users will see this great offer, and know that they only have a few months left. Microsoft will then have gained another year worth of money a few months early and and not have to worry about convincing you to spend money on another year because you’ve already payed for the next year.

Instead, the offers going to those without Xbox Live are being wasted. If you have Xbox Live you will never see the offer unless you wait about a month or two after losing it. But if you really want Xbox Live you are just going to rebuy and not worry about the offer.

Xbox Live offers are going to the wrong people at the wrong times. To further prove my point Microsoft could easily take the data they receive for the most played games and know exactly which games are played the most. We all know they can see what games are being played, as seen in Major Nelson’s most played games blog posts. If Microsoft were to take this info, and then offer this recent deal to everyone who plays Modern Warfare 2, a lot of people will take the offer even if they are no where near ending their subscription. Why? Because of that simple riot shield. It is unique and will show how much they love Modern Warfare 2. Admittedly a majority of Xbox Live users are there because of their parent’s credit cards. They are the ones that throw out tons of virtual cash on useless avatar items. This offer should’ve been focused primarily at those people and Microsoft would have easily made millions.

According to recent statistics Modern Warfare 2 has acquired 25 million unique players. This is not only on the Xbox 360, but lets say minimally 1 million of these are on the Xbox 360. 12 months of xbox live costs about $50 depending on where you live. If even 200,000 of the players took this offer Microsoft would’ve made an instant $1,000,000. Instead of focusing on these players, they have instead focused on the Silver Members. These members are either grounded, or they simply don’t have Xbox Live. Since they don’t have Xbox Live they will never have played Modern Warfare 2 since it is primarily a multiplayer game, so the Riot Shield doesn’t even appeal to them.

As you can see Microsoft are focusing on the wrong gamers for these Xbox Live offers. They shouldn’t focus these offers only to the people without Xbox Live but to those with it as well. Everyone with Xbox Live is a continued supporter, and just because we are most likely to pay Microsoft for another 12 months, doesn’t mean that they should just ignore us. Many people would’ve bought that deal instantly, for different reason and most likely the offer would have gotten more takers from already existing members then those without Xbox Live.

Splinter Cell: Conviction Demo Walkthrough

Check out the optimal walkthrough of the Splinter Cell Conviction demo on normal difficulty in this video.
The game will release April 15th 2010 exclusively on Xbox 360 and PC.

The Video below was done by Ubisoft, and can be found on their Youtube Channel here.

MotoGP 09/10 speeds into retail today!

MotoGP 09/10 has crossed the finishing line and is available to buy across Europe on Xbox 360 and PS3 today.

MotoGP 09/10 delivers the most definitive game of the MotoGP series to date. Players will be able to get all the riders, tracks and teams from the 2009 season straight out of the box and thanks to the 2010 season content being available as free DLC shortly after release players will be able to compete in the latest season sooner than ever before. The first DLC pack which contains the 800cc bike class and livery updates along with the brand new Silverstone circuit will be available in July.

Players riding style and skill will be rewarded in the all new Arcade Mode or you can experience life in the fast lane as a real GP rider, managing your career both on and off the track in Career Mode. Once you’ve learnt the skills you can take your bike online and for the first time in console history compete against 20 players across the globe in an online racing experience.

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Michael Atkinson has stepped down! R18+ Rating here we come!

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Michael Atkinson, South Australia’s Attorney General, has announced that he will be stepping down from office to take a seat in the Australian Parliament.

Atkinson has been singlehandedly stopping violent games from coming to Australia. He was the only Attorney General out of six in the country who opposed updating the law, and with his veto power he has succeeded to stop the law from changing for a long time.

Australians now have high hopes of finally getting a R18+ rating. They must have finally scared him away. MasterAbbott and his lancer would scare me out of office as well. I don’t believe one minute that he wants to spend more time with his son. It was definitely MasterAbbott’s lancer wielding that did it !! 😉

dev diary for ‘Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands’

The video above is a dev diary for ‘Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands’.

It mainly focuses on the Wii controls, and the unique gameplay “only available through Wii controls”.  Sit back and enjoy.

On a side note: the Co-op is kind of lame, it is nice for those of us with little brothers or sisters that always watch us play. But hopefully it isn’t as much of a hassle as trying to set up tingle co-op in LoZ: windwaker. It was more trouble then it was worth.

Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 DLC info

Valve continues to support their games, and as you may know DLC is planned for both Left 4 Dead 1 and 2.

The Left 4 Dead 2 DLC is call “The Passing” and Valve’s Chet Faliszek revealed the tagline for this scenario as “Nobody Survives Forever” — supposedly, one of the original quartet has sacrificed him or herself in the events preceding “The Passing,” which will be the focus of the upcoming Left 4 Dead 1 campaign.

So let us analyze this. According to the top information you will only run into three of the four Left 4 dead 1 survivors. This means in the Left 4 Dead 1 DLC someone will have to die while playing 4 player co-op.

Another question is, who is the one that’s going to die. According to previous leaks, Ellis crushes on Zoey when he sees her, and Nick and Francis have some pretty interesting dialogue. So all that’s left is Louis and Bill.

Bill seems like the most likely pick, he’s old and he continually has dialogue that says to shoot him if he starts to turn. Besides, we can’t possibly lose Louis, because then we wouldn’t have “PEEEEELZ!!”.

Angry Birds Review

Overview:
Do you like birds? Do you hate pigs? Well if so then you will be just as angry as the angry birds in this Iphone game. Iphone game developer Click Gamer and Rovio have developed a catapult launching game involving not the throwing of rocks, but the throwing of birds. And these aren’t just any birds, they are Angry Birds

Story:
Not much in the way of story, however there is some storyline to go along with the game this time around. There is a kingdom of pigs that have been living next to a family of different birds and for a long time they have coincided in peace. However the pigs grew tired of only eating grass and saw the birds’ eggs as a delicious alternative. While the birds are distracted the pigs take the eggs and plan to eat them. The birds are quite angry against the offending pigs and will destroy them with the only means they have, their own bodies.

Graphics:
The graphics are very cartoony but that works perfectly fine. Each level is designed slightly different and there is a large amount of levels. There are also plenty of different birds and obstacles that will get in your way and each of these as well looks cartoonish. Though I could hardly picture it any other way.

Gameplay:
Gameplay is quite simple. You have a slingshot, a variety of birds, and a number of pigs that must be destroyed to move on. However this is not always so simple, as there are many barriers constructed to impede your path and protect the pigs from your onslaught.

These barriers consist of everything from simple ice blocks which are easily broken, to steel girders that take a large force to even tip over, let alone smash. There is also the occasional environmental item which can assist in some form, such as a boulder or a box of TNT sitting near a pig

You start with a certain amount of birds with various abilities and colors. Some of these abilities range from your standard bird that is launched normally. Mostly every bird has a secondary attack which is far more powerful than their primary launch.

A few of these types are the blue bird, who is smaller than the standard bird, but can split into three birds in mid flight and assault the barriers protecting the pigs. Another type is a black bird that is quite large, allowing it to smash through stone and other obstacles, but that is only a small part of its potential. And that potential is a high explosive capable of clearing large pieces of defense in one launch.

After finishing a level, you are given points based on if any of the birds have not been shot out of the slingshot, and these points are combined into a final score for that level. This score is then given 1-3 stars and are given the ability to post your score on leaderboards, allowing you to compare your score with everyone else who plays the game.

One negative I have found though is that there is no ability to skip a level. It can be very frustrating on some levels where you can try twenty times and not make any progress. Though there is always a way to get past the level, it would be more interesting for them to use the stars to unlock levels. Such as getting 3 stars would unlock 2 levels instead of just the next level.

Overall:

Overall I truly enjoy this game because of it’s cartoonish graphics and enjoyability. Though there may be some frustrating levels, there is always a way to get past them. Either a slight adjustment to launch height, or a lucky fall but there is always a way to advance and there are tons of levels to play through.

I give Angry Birds for the Iphone a slingshotted 8-0-capsules-out-of-10

God Of War III – Review PS3

Developed exclusively for Playstation 3 by Santa Monica Studios, God Of War III is the final instalment of the multi-million unit selling trilogy.

God Of War III
Developed by : Santa Monica Studios
Platform : Playstation 3
Category : Action
Replease Date : 18th February 2010
Rating : MA 15+
Price : $81.99 AUD from Fishpond

Set in the realm of brutal Greek mythology, God Of War III is a single-player game that allows players to take on the climatic role of the ex-Spartan warrior, Kratos, as he scales through the intimidating heights of Mt. Olympus and the dark depths of Hell to seek revenge on those who have betrayed him.  Kratos is armed with double-chained blades and an array of new weapons and magic.  Along the way Kratos must take on mythology’s darkest creatures while attempting to solve puzzles throughout his quest to destroy Olympus.

God Of War 3 visually will amaze players new to the series with fantastic image quality and visual effects, as well as brutal combat and intricate puzzles that have becomes the signature characteristics of this franchise.  Playing as Kratos this time around you will get to explore areas up to four times larger than those found in God of War II, with ground breaking new depth of scale.

We find Kratos kicking things off riding on the back of Gaia as she climbs Mt. Olympus.  The action is crazy straight off the bat as the player is introduced to the action and given abrief tutorial instructions on how to attack, dodge, grapple, open chests etc.  It’s not very hard to get acquainted to the controls and movement.  For everyone that have played the previous God Of Wars and understand the story you’re in for a great ride in the opening chapter, for the new comers it will be a little confusing but don’t let that turn you off as it’s an amazing experience.

As we all know Kratos is driven by VENGENCE !!! Simply put.  His plan this time is kill Zeus the king of the Gods and anyone that steps foot in his way.  The opening chapter of the game will have Kratos taking on the God of the SEA Poseidon.  This is just a little taste of what’s to come in the later chapters and boss battles.  Honestly this boss battle is something you’d expect to see at the end of a game but you get to do it right at the beginning… with a battle this epic at the beginning of the game you can only imagine what the end battle will be like 😉 Sorry no spoilers here.  But expect it to be EPIC !!!

Graphically God of War 3 is outstanding, it has an interesting mix of realistic and cartoon feel to it.  The game relies on its in-game engine for most of its cut scenes.  It’s a great choice. Santa Monica Studios have created a new High Dynamic Range Lighting (HDRL) technology that has to be seen to be believed.  Kratos’ sight will emulate the human retina, causing players to feel a sharp brightness when Kratos exists a dark area and enters a sunlit area, similar to the human eye.  Along your quest of chaos and destruction you will battle in detailed and unique 3D worlds, lit by thousands of dynamic lights and textures with four times the resolution, allowing for realistic muscle striations and detailed facial expressions.

Gameplay is perfect with the emphasis on intelligent use of the weapons you have on hand means that not all battles end in the same way.  You will not be able to rely on just one weapon as all of them deliver so many varied combat options.  Kratos has also acquired a new blade called the Blades of Exile, they are very similar to the Blades of Athena, the Blades of Exile are a pair of hooked weapons that have the ability to summon magic powers.  You also have Gauntlets which are made for delivering hard core close combat damage and there are also the electrified swords which work wonders for stunning your enemies.  All these weapons can be mapped with the directional pad which makes it very easy to switch between weapon to weapon and execute some crazy combos and most importantly spectacular deaths.

Combat is actually very intense, playing it on anything other than easy level will make you build up a good sweat as you’ll need to concentrate and keep focused to take down enemies and especially bosses.  One good thing is the boss battle checkpoints,  which have been added to the start and also end of the fights.  Along the way to break up the endless destruction and chaos there are some really challenging puzzle gameplay, giving the player a bit of a breather.

Another nice touch to the game is the Quick Time Events, Santa Monica Studios have actually nailed this perfectly.  The button commands are placed on the edges of the screen, allowing the players to use their peripheral vision to watch for the QTE’s as they appear and allowing them to take in all the amazing visuals and fantastic cut-scene that traditional QTE’s ruin as commands appear in annoying spots and also have players searching the screens for the next event to appear.  I personally think its brilliant and I hope other developers try and implement this moving forward.

One other cool feature is the gesture based controls, similar to Heavy Rain’s control system. Using the right thumb stick to perform half circle movements when battling specific enemies.  It’s a nice little change to the action and also the QTE’s.  It might get a few new comers by surprise at the beginning but after a while it’ll all become second nature.

NOW … my only big concern I have with God Of War 3 is the fixed camera, once again Santa Monica Studios have stuck with this and its perspective sensitive controls that will move the camera to the correct spot once you move to a specific location.  Now most of the time it’s not that bad but there are moments where you’re looking for hidden items/chests that would of been very easy find if you could of just swung the camera around yourself to locate them.  The camera also affects certain things when your attempting to interact with the game world such as when you’re standing in front a chest trying to open it but you’re not in the EXACT spot for it to allow you to open it with the R1 button.   This could be a real pain when you’re going for a health chest half way through an intense boss battle.

These little issues barely even scratch the surface or leave a mark on the overall game play of God Of War 3.  The game delivers everything that you would expect it to deliver and more.  It’s got epic battles, a truckload of chaos, mayhem, blood gore and destruction, and a storyline that completes the final chapter of this magnificent trilogy.  If you a fan of God Of War and even Greek Mythology this game is a MUST and you’d be completely crazy not to get it.

Capsule Computers gives God Of War 3 :  9.5 Capsules Out Of 10

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Go out and grab this now before Kratos comes around and smacks you in the back of the head with his Blades of Exile 😉

Modern Warfare 2 Double XP weekend starts April 2

Haven’t Hit 10th prestige yet? Want to boost your score on the leaderboards?

Well you are in luck, Double XP weekend is coming to Modern Warfare 2 on April 2nd.The weekend right after the map packs come out. Conspiracy? or are they trying to push sales. Either way, you get twice as much XP! 3rd prestige here i come!

Double XP weekend will end April 5th.

I think Duraroc, KingRoc and x|Rock|x will all be happy about that.  MasterAbbott is also happy but he doesn’t have time to play.  He’s still stuck on level 28 .. hahahhaha ahhh… eerrmm hmmm yes ok 😉